Method of concentrating ores



Mar. 2@, H923, -1,448,92&

R. LUCKENBACH METHOD OF CONGENTRATING OR Filed Apr. 5, 191a miineose-s vJhvevzzar l atenteel ar. 2%, 119230 lR-OYEE LUCKENBACH, OE BROOKLYN, NEWYORK, ASSIGNIOR T0 LUGEENEELCHI PROCESSES, INQ, OF-SAN FRANCISCO,CALIFORNIA, A COEPORATIQN 6F NEVADA.

METHOD OF CONCENTEATING GEES.

Application filed April 5,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, Rom LUoKnNnAcH, a citizen of the United States,residing in the borough of Brooklyn, county of Kings, city and State ofNew York, have invented a certain newand useful Method of ConcentratingOres, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the concentration of ore in which the valuablemineral constituents are separated from the 'valueless earthy or rockycontent or gangue' with which they are naturally associated. Inthepractice of the invention advantage is taken of the known preferentialaffinity of certain substances for certain minerals which will attract,or be attracted by, such substances while at the same time the siliciousgangue will not be so attracted but will be repelled. The invention isparticularly directed to what may be termed the contact method of oreconcentration in which the ore, in finely divided state, is mixed withwater to form a pulp which is then brought into contact with a surfaceto which the mineral content of the ore will adhere. I

The invention comprises the employment of a selective agent having agreat affinity for certain minerals and which will not attract or beattracted by gangue. The invention also comprises the method or processof utilizing such a selective agent.

The objects and advantages of the invention will be appreciated from areading of the following specification and claims. 7

The invention is ap licable'to the treatment of metals in the fi'ee orvirgin state as well as certain chemical combinations there off. By theprocess of the invention metallic minerals and their sulphides may be soa-. rated from the earthy gangue with which they are associated, andlikewise certain nonmetallic minerals, such for example as sulphur andgraphite, may be concentrated.

In addition to separating the valuable content of ores having a flintyor rocky gangue, the process may be carried out in connection with freemetals found in placer or surface mining.

The invention may be carried out with all ores and their chemicalcompounds which are subject to concentration by the oil flotationmethods at present in use, as well as with other mineral substanceswhich will 1318. Serial 1%. 223,834.

not be acted on by the materials employed in the oil fiotationprocesses.

F or the purposes of carrying out the invention the selective materialor agent comprises an unctuous material of animal, vegetable or mineralorigin, a resinous material of which caoutchouc, copal, rosin, shellac,asphaltum, Burgundy pitch and North Carolina pitch are examples, or acombination of such unctuous and resinous materials.

The resin is rendered suitable for use in the invention by dissolving itin a suitable solvent, having water repellant characteristics. Theoilyor greasy substance when of a heavy, thickw nature is preferablythinned to 'a proper consistency'by the addition of a thin oil.

Specifically the preferred selective agent comprises petroleum rease andrubber. The. rubber, preferably Tara rubber, is. prepared by dissolvingit in a hydrocarbon solvent such as near-turpentine or other suitablesolvent. Near-turpentine is a petroleum distillate from which the fat orgrease has been removed. Tt is a clear, limpid liquid having theappearance of gasolene, benzene, or naphtha, and the odor of keroseneand is employed because of its cheapness, but many other rubber solventsmay be employed, such, for example, as carbon disulphide. Thepetroleumgrease which is naturally a thick, heavy substance is thinned by therubber solvent, or any other suitable material,

to such an extent that it is capable of use in the process.

Petroleum grease and rubber when thus treated and combined produce amixture having a consistency of approximately that of syrup. They may becombined in substantially equal proportions which will produce thisliquor of the desired syrupy nature. The proportions of grease andrubber may vary considerably as depends upon the quality or kind of oreacted upon, and for various other reasons.

In the accompanying drawings, in which like parts in all of the figuresare designated by similar characters of reference, are illustratedseveral means by which the process may be carried out, and inwhich IFig. 1 is a diagrammatic view of a belt vanner arrangement.

Fig. 2 is amodification showing a cylinder for carrying the pulp.

Fig. 3 shows the use of a and Fig. 4 illustrates an inclined chute.

The mixture of petroleum grease and rubher is placed, in the form of athin coating, u on the surface of a continuously moving be t l, forexample..- The ore pulp composed of ore and water is directed to thecoated surfacefrom a hopper 2 whereupon the mineral Constituents of theore will adrevolving table,

-here tothe coating and the Water and gangue will not adhere to thesurface but will be discharged from the belt when the latter changes itsdirection of travel into a trough of launder 3. The coating will adhereto the belt and the mineral matter will be retained in contact .with thecoating against dislodgment by centrifugal force or by agitation. Thecoating with the adhering mineral will be removed from the belt inanydesired manner, as by means of a scraper 4 and directed into areceptacle 5. The surface of the belt is re-coated automatically as froma reservoir '8 or otherwise and the operations are repeated whereby theprocess is continuous.

tive agent the separation may be-effected in be applied to a press orcentrifugal machine.

If the recovery of the selective agent is not a consideration, it,-'theagent,-may be removed from the concentrates by a suitable solvent of theagent or b burning.

Instead of a moving bel i the coating'may rotating or roclring table-7,to the surface of a cylinder 8, or to an inclined chute 9 along whichthe pulp may be caused to flow.

When the rotating-table 7 is employed the gangue and water may beexpelled by centrifugal force. The surface of the table may be scrapedand dressed as in the method shown in l, or the table may be'coated andscraped by hand.

In the method illustrated in Fig. t the chute '9 is coated by hand, thewater and gangue will travel along the surface by gravity, the valueswill adhere to the surface and the chute may be scraped at the end ofthe run.

The contact method of ore concentration employing the selective agentherein disclosed possesses many advantages over the oil flotationmethods now in use. It perthe process of this invention it is notnecessary to float the mineral and the ore need not be ground. to adegree of fineness e:'-'

seeding 30 mesh. This will reduce the expense of grinding and thepresent process will permit of a much greater recovery of mineral in thesame length of time than is possible by the flotation methods.

The contact method is also more economical than the flotation system forthe reason that it requires less power, is automatic, and continuous.

In the flotation process the oil may be used but once as it cannot berecovered, whereas in the process of the present invention the selectiveagent may be recovered and re used.

It is to be understood that the selective agent ,comprising petroleumgrease and liquid rubber above described is the preferred selectiveagent but it is not the intention to limit the invention to the use ofsuch an agent.

Liquid rubber alone may be employed as the mineral selective agent and.will give excellent results. Petroleum grease alone may be used. When soemployed the grease .must be cut to a syrupy consistency, preferably bythe use of a thin liquid hydro-carbonsolvent. The addition of liquidrubber to petroleum grease increases the mineral selective qualities ofthe latter in proportion to the-amount of rubber used.

Any of the suitable resins or oils alone may be used as the mineralselective agent for the purposes of this invention, it being understood,that the resins will be previously dissolved in a suitable solvent, foruse in the form of a coating for the belt or other surface of theapparatus, to which the ore pulp is to. be directed. Qert'ain of theoils which may be used as a mineral selective agent must be modified toproduce a coating which will be of a slippery, slimy, or sliclrcharacter rather than of a gluey or tacky nature. For example, ifasphaltum were to be used it would be so tacky or gluey that it wouldretain both the mineral and the gangue upon the belt instead ofseparating the IUlIIGIal from the gangue, but when asphaltum is combinedwith a fatty acid it losses its character of tachiness an becomes of asufliciently smooth or slick character to serveas a gangue repellantwhile retaining its mineral selective qualities.

For the purpose of more eiiicient action as a mineral selectortherefore, it is prefer able to combine a resinous and an oleaginoussubstance, as the combination of the two substances tends to increasethe selectiveness for miner-eh oi hoth. The addition. the resinespecially rubber; muses the oily substance to adhere to the belt andtends to remove the tendency of the oils (which tendency is greater insome oils than in others to iiont oii the belt or other contact surfacein the enter oi" the ore pulp, or to scour 01? by the gzingue. Rubberalso provides a protective, water-proof coating for the belt andprotects it from injury.

The liquid rnhher inipartsto the oil or grease an added quality ofcohesion and of resistance to water, thus preventing the oil fromdissipating.

Having thus described my invention, what claim is 1. The method ofconcentrzrtingore, which comprises mixing the ore with Water to form a.pulp directing the pulp to a surface comprising petroleum grease andrubher to which the mineral content will mi.

here and separating the mineral from the material.

The method. of concentrating oreqvhich comprises mixing the ore withwater to form pulp, directing the pulp to a surface comprising petroleumgrease and liquid. rubber to which the mineral content will adhere, andseparating the mineral from the material.

3. The method f con :entrating ore, which comprises mixing the ore withWater to form a pulp, directingthe pulp to a surface comprisingpetroleum grease and rubber dissolved in a hydro-carbon to which themineral content will adhere, and separating the rnineral'from thematerial.

This specification signed and witnessed this thirtieth (lay f March,1918.

EQYER LUCKENBACH.

Witnesses:

A. E. RENTON, M, I. VVARIL

